Gunman storms Discovery channel building, takes hostages

Last updated on: September 02, 2010 01:09 IST

A man armed with a handgun and possibly a bomb stormed the Discovery TV Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington, firing several shots and taking at least one person hostage, police said.

The man appears to be an Asian, they said. The Discovery Channel sent an e-mail to all employees in the building at 1:21 p.m. (local time) telling them they "have reason to believe there is an armed gunman at One Discovery Place," CNN reported.

A Discovery employee told local WJLA-TV that the building was on lockdown and said that she thought she had heard five or six gunshots. Dan Friz, a spokesman with the Montgomery County Police Department, said a tactical team is trying to communicate with the gunman.

The police were dispatched to the building after a report that shots were fired at approximately 1300 hrs, he said. The news channel reported that the Discovery Channel day care, which had about 100 kids, has been evacuated to a nearby area.